Moving on

Sagebrush corpse, Ponderosa needles. Pine Mountain, Oregon.

1Ds III, 24-105 at 60mm, f/18.



Thanks for your thoughts.

This is nice Marc. You have framed this well. The lines of the sagebrush lead nicely through the image. I wouldn't mind it a little brighter - but it could definitely be my monitor

I don't know about brighter, but I think more contrast on the main tree trunk, and even the cones that are tucked away down in the right corner would spice this up a little. I really like the way that this is composed with a very strong movement from lower left to upper right. I think a "spotlight" contrast/vignette effect on the sage with the outer extremities of the frame being very dark would look real nice here.

More contrast isn't giving me as natural a look IMO. I was definitely going for a subtle approach here. My thoughts, artistically speaking, were to communicate the togetherness - the union of sagebrush with its surroundings, rather than having the sagebrush itself be the dominant subject. The bright white background is absolutely killing this one too. I'll post a suped-up contrast version here for comparison, which might work better given the nature of the bright screen used for a background.

I like the subjective thought of the title. Works well with what you have composed. I see what you are saying with the white background. Blocked out the white and it looked fine to me. :)

You make a good point Marc with the bright white background. I viewed the original image with a neutral surround and it helped dramatically. The re-work is also nice but it definitely causes the sagebrush to stand out from its surroundings.

This works beautifully for me. Subtle but powerful. Inspiring. Tristan

Marc, I do like the repost better. For me, B&W is all about contrast, and the first version felt just a little flat. I will say that the first version looks a lot better right now with the lights dimmed in my office area, and that the white background really creates havoc - especially on B&W images. I'm sure either version would look just fine if matted or framed appropriately.

I wish we could set the NPN background to a color of our choosing. Or at least have a bigger boundary around the photos to help separate the image from the gallery/forum. A 720px image gets lost in a sea of white on a hi-rez widescreen monitor.

Hi Marc, to be brutally honest, it's flat.

One of the reasons I don't do much digital B&W is I find the conversions tend to run flat anyway, so this is a bit of an "issue" with me. The results always seem to remind me of printing B&W from color negatives...

From a practical standpoint the issue here is not about contrast, but about range of tones. The lightest zone is about 6. On the rework, the lightest zone is about 6.5. So out of a possible range of from 2-9, this has 2-6, thus it looks flat.

As you know you can have a low contrast image with a full range of tones, as well as a high contrast image with a full range of tones.

Marc
I feel a little tension with this image. I think the tree should be darker but not too dark. I find myself fighting from looking at the rest of the image which has interest because the old tree has so much dominance. IMHO of course.

I'm gonna agree with Aaron. When I shoot for black and white, I think mostly about contrast. Sometimes subtle contrast, sometimes strong, but in the end its about a primary focal point standing out against the rest. For me, this image is all about the sinuous lines of the stem of the bush and everything else is sort of filler to look at once you've finished examining the bush itself. The white BG definitely does hurt the original, but I still like the repost better.

Excellent image Marc. It is a nice change from your usual vibrant color landscapes. There is something about it that just draws you in and you find yourself searching the image. The first image is imo the better of the two even on the white screen. The slight softness in contrast that the first one has is what makes it pleasing to look at and study, while the second provides more detail...I do not find myself wanting to study it as much.

Tony

The second post works better IMO, but as has been stated, the white background is a big factor.

I've admired these harsh, elegant sagebrush forms for years and you've captured the feeling well. There's a lot of untapped potential out there.

I'm partial to the re-work, Marc. I know it's a matter of personal preference but I like that the sagebrush stands out more from the BG.

I think the 2nd repost is better but I wish it had a bit more of the contrast that we know and love from black and white film.... I want the depth to feel 3D - you have other works that have that impression, this one doesn't do that for me, yet... but I think it can.

Marc, I knew when I first saw this that you were going for a more subtle approach. And while I usually agree with what others have said about B&W being more about contrast, I think your first post works nicely. What you said about wanting it to be about the cohesiveness of the image rather than any one dominant element is actually the sense I got when I first looked at it. In that, I think you were successful.

Absolutely fenomenal. Beautiful. A piece of art. I watched your recent abstract stuff and you are really an artist in it. Why don't you switch to this kind of photography?
I must say that this image stands in contrast to the other recent one (with the diffused stream). The other one has waaay too much sugar in it and represents the other side of you - the "Thomas Kinkade" side.

The flowing lines work very well here and they stand out better in the 2nd post. I find the first image a little too flat but my monitor is set to a luminescence of 140 to match my printer output. I would like to see this larger.

Any chance PNW will be able to post 1200wide like ESS?